Potato-harvester



G. W. WISEMAN.

POTATO HARVESTER.

APPLlcATloN man ma. 19. 1920.

Patented Nov. 30, 1920.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. eooDwIN w. wrsEMAN, or warnnvnni, MAINE, AssIGNoR To DOMINICK M. sUsI AND NATHANIEL H. BAnRows, Born or WATERVILLE, MAINE.

POTATO-HARVESTER. V

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that l, GOODWIN V. lisie- MAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at latervi-lle, in the county of Kennebec and State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Potato- Harvesters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to potato handling machinery and has for its object to provide a device to operate inthe rear of and in conjunction withan ordinary potato digger adapted to release the potatoes from adhering dirt and providing means discharging vines and other extraneous matter.

A further object oi the invention is to provide a device of the class having improved means for conveying and simultaneously agitating the potatoes t aveling between the discharge of the potato digger and a storage compartment.

Vith these and other objects in view the device comprises certainrnovel units, parts and combinations was will be hereinafter claimed. j Y

Referring to the accompanying drawing, which is made a part hereof, and on which similar reference characters indicate similar parts,

Figure 1 is a view of the improved potato cleaner shown in side elevation, parts beingl broken away to ,show interior construction.

Fig. 2 is atop plan view of the potato cleaner, i

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a section of the lag chain, the units each being broken to indicate that the chain may be of any width,

and

Fig. 4 is a detail view of the tridant for attaching the cleaner to the potato digger;

The improved potato cleaner which Jiorms the subject matter of this application is adapted to be used in conjunction with a mechanical potato digger of the-usual and ordinary type indicated as Van entirety at A. The potato diggers in use provide means `for separating from the potatoes a certain amount of dirt, and under some conditions and use in some soils the dirt will be largely discharged from the potatoes. In other soils and under other conditions, however, the amount of travel and agitation is not sufficient to dislodge from the potatoes adhering` soil, nor is provision made for manually Specification ef Letters Patent.

Application filed February 19, 1920. Serial No. 360,003.

discharging extraneous matter such as Vines, stones or the like.

The present invention comprises in an organized structure side bars l() mounted upon an axle 11, one end of which extends beyond the side rail 10 a considerably greater distance than the other as shown more particularly at Fig. 2, permitting the introduction of a running board 12 between the wheel 13 and the side rail. A wheel 14 is used upon the other end of the axle 11.

The side rails 10, forming the body of the cleaner, are normally set at an inclination and are held in such position by having their lower ends supported beneath the ripper' or discharge end of the digger A. Such connecting and supporting maybe in any approved manner, but preferably by means of a bar 15 extending across the top and between side rails 10, with a similar bar 16 extending below' the side bars of the digger. The two bars 15 and 16 are pivoted together by means of a pivot pin 17. For the purpose or' bracing the connection the tridant shown at Fig. 4 isV employed, comprising a bar 18 extending across the digger and spaced from the barl with a brace 19 extending from the middle of the bar 18 and provided with an opening 2O embracing the pivot pin 17.

Side braces 21 are employed, completing the tridant. Y

At their upper ends the side rails 10 are provided with slots 22 with journal blocks 23 slidable therein, controlled by tension screws 24, which in turn are controlled by hand wheels 25. The journal blocks 23 ournal a shaft 26'upon which is carried sprocket 27. Over the sprocket 27 a chain is employed, passing also over the sprocket 29, rigidly secured to and receiving power from the traction wheel 14. The screws 24, in conjunction `with the journal blocks 23, form a tightener for the chain 28, which in its course engages the sprocket 30 mounted upon `the shaft 31. The shaft 31 is provided with sprockets 32 over which passes the lag chain, forming the conveyer for the potatoes. This lag chain is made up of a plurality of units having links 33 at their opposite ends, proportioned and positioned to interengage with similar links upon the next unit in series. Between the links, cross bars 34 extend, the bars being staggered, alternate bars being up and down, the bars travv 32 and36 the lag chain passes over a plurality of elliptical sprockets, one of which is shown in elevation at 37 in Fig. l, and indicated by dilierence inplanarea at Fig. 2. The passing of the lag chain over these elliptical sprockets tends to agitate thematerial carried by the lag chain, it being obvious that the chain will be raised and lowered to correspond to the difference in elevation of the diierent arcs of peripheries ofthe sprockets 37.

At the upper end a baiiie 38 is provided, against which the potatoes discharged over the lag 'chain will engage, a hopper section 39 also is provided having an opening or chute Y 40 positioned to discharge into' a receptacle 41 carried upon a revolving platform 42.

The long end of thefaxle l1 provides inea-ns to accomplish an adjustment or' the wheels 13 relative to the body for operat- "ing .in conjunction with rows of potatoes differently spaced. This provision may be ofany type desired. Itis here shown as consistingrof perforations 43 with a pin 44 engaging such perforations to hold the wheel in its adjusted position upon the axle 1l.

In operation the device is trailed in the rear orn the digger A, propelled by any usual and ordinarydraft. The movement of the cleaner imparts motion to the parts through the wheel 14, the potatoes being dumped upon thelag chain and thereby conveyed upwardly between the side bars l0 to be dumped eventually into the hopper and discharged through the chute 40 into the recep- In the course of travel along the lag chain the potatoes are subjected to agitation of the elliptical sprockets for the pur-1 pose oi? discharging dirt therefromf'which is vdropped through the open meshesV of the lag chain. Stones, sticks, vines and other extraneous matter are, however, not so dumped through the chain but are manually removed bya man standing upon the running board. `l2 and reaching over the body of the cleaner manually removing any extraneous matter and throwing-it to one sider as the machine progresses. This provides for the discharge into the receptacle 21 of only the cleaned and separated potatoes.

Having thus fullydescribed my said invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentis: Y

1.7In a potato cleaner, a body, an endless apron comprising bars' extending across the body and linked together, such bars being staggered, alternate bars traveling in a higher plane than the intermediate bars and agitating means supporting the apron intermediater its extremes.4

2. -In a potatocleaner'Qa body, wheels sup-` porting the body, bearing sprockets journaled upon the body, a lag chaincomprising an-endless apron passing over the supportino' s rockets means to drive the a ron Y from the supporting wheels, Vsaid lag chain comprising links connected by cross bars, some of which` are bent upwardly from the plane of the links, and others' bent downwardly from the plane of the links beneath and adjacent the upwardly bent crossbars.

3. In a potato cleaner, a body, wheels supporting the body, an endless apron traveling along the bodyand driven from the wheels, elliptical toothed agitating rollers spaced along therapron, succeeding Vrollers having their major and minor axes disposed at different angles driven from the wheels and adapted to impart a wave-like agitation throughout the apron whereby the potatoes are reciprocated up and down and rocked back and forth the apron. l Y

4. In a potato cleaner a traveling apron composed of interengaging links and'form* ing cross-bars provided with offset portions formed so that alternate bars extend forward and backward, the forwardly extend-y Y ing portion of one bar overlying the back- 5, In a potato cleaner, a body, an endless apron comprising bars extending across the body and linked together, such bars being staggered, alternate bars traveling in a higher plane than the intermediate bars.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal at I/Vashingtoml). C., this 18th day of February, A. D. nineteen hundred and twenty. Y Y

GooDwiN w.V wi-siiMAN. [a Si Vitnesses E. W. BRADFORD, E. K. RiiioiinNBAcH.

in their travel along 1 

